The Arctic gold, oil, tourist, fishing, shipping rush

New Scientist on how the warming Arctic is leading to all kinds of business. Excerpts (sub required for full article)

Tourism

“Nearly a million visitors go to the Arctic each year. They account for more than 80,000 hotel-nights on the Norwegian island of Svalbard. Even greater numbers visit Greenland, where they easily outnumber the local population of just 55,000 people.”

Fishing

“The number of voyages by fishing vessels in the Canadian Arctic increased sevenfold, to 221, between 2005 and 2010. The Inuit of Nunavut now run six factory ships trawling for turbot and other species in Baffin Bay and the Davis Strait, up from none 10 years ago.”

Drilling

“Russian media report that the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora Sea is the first permanent, ice-resistant oil production platform in the world. Russian oil giant Rosneft announced last year that it plans to build at least 10 more platforms.”

Mining

“Greenland is attracting huge attention. The south-west coast, around Kvanefjeld, probably holds the world's second largest deposit of rare earth elements and huge reserves of uranium and zinc - all together valued at almost half-a-trillion dollars.”

Shipping

“The shortcut to Asia (the North-East passage) halves the shipping time from northern Europe to China to roughly 20 days, and avoids pirate-infested shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean. Russia expects a 40-fold increase in shipping along the route by 2020. American analysts say it could be carrying 5 per cent of world's shipping by 2050.”